As I understand it, the National and American League Division Series consists of two five game series between the three division champs and the wild card team.
How is it decided who will play whom? For example, in this year’s ALDS, the Yankees played the Twins and the Red Sux played the Angels. Why not Yankees-Red Sux and Twins-Angels? Is it a random draw?
I assume it works the same way in the National League.
THe simple answer is:
The division champ with the best overall record plays the wild card team, unless the wild card team is from the same division. Since the Yanks and Sox are in the same division they do not meet in the division series.
You seed the three division champs 1-3 based on records. The wild card team plays #1 unless from same division, in which case it plays #2.
In 1995 the matchups for the first rounds were set ahead of time including home field, with the exception that teams from the same division couldn’t meet.
But that year, Cleveland went 100-44 and had to open the Division Series on the road in Boston and then the LCS in Seattle.
They opened the World Series in Atlanta, but the World Series remained on an alternating basis until the weird All-Star game rule instituted last year.
I just wanted to add that the wild card-same division rule doesn’t make sense either. Not as bad as the All-Star Game thing, though.
I like the All-Star game. It’s a fun diversion.
It would be nice to have a better system for determining the WS venues, though. A friend of mine suggested that it would be more fair to have three games at each home stadium, and one game at a neutral, third stadium.
The rationale behind the wild card placement in the Division Series is that two teams that have played each other 18-19 times in the regular season shouldn’t have their season decided in 5 games. It would likely blunt the impact of such a series.
I think for starters, the Red Sox would really not liked to have played the Yankees in a 3 out of 5 series this year.
Actually, it does make sense. Basically, the theory is that it would look ridiculous if Team A were to finish ahead of Team B, and then immediately be eliminated by Team B in round 1. It would mean finishing first was of no value. It would just be stupid - just by virtue of appearance it would be silly.,
If Team B eliminates Team A in the League C.S., then at least you can say that Team B had to beat another team in the playoffs to prove their worthiness. At that point they aren’t just a second place team - they’re a team that won a playoff series against a division champion. Furthermore, they have to beat Team A in 7 games, not 5.